RI to field 4 cyclists at Asian meet
RI to field 4 cyclists at Asian meet
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will rely on four ace cyclists now in training in Australia for the Asian Cycling Championship in Manila.
Sofian Ruzian of the Indonesian Cycling Association said yesterday the four have been undergoing a rigorous training program in Adelaide since Feb. 14.
Part of their training included taking part in the Australian national cycling championship in Brisbane from Mar. 17-25, in which they finished fifth, Ruzian said.
The four riders are Herry Janto Setiawan, Andry Sudrajat, Nurrochman and national leading female cyclist Nurhayati. They are the most prepared Indonesian cyclists for the Manila championship slated from Apr. 20 to May 3. Ruzian, however, says he would not burden the cyclists with any expectations.
"We will send them there just to see how they perform among the best Asian cyclists," Ruzian said.
Of the four, Nurhayati has made the most outstanding improvement. Nurhayati, a specialist in the 3,000m individual time trial, has managed to record her best time of 4 minutes and .0675 seconds during her stint in Australia. Previously her best time for the same event was 4min 9sec at the 1993 National Games here, Ruzian said.
Given that the other Southeast Asian countries will also take part in the Manila championship, the meet will be useful to measure up the Indonesian team against its Southeast Asian opponents.
"Thus, we will know the strength of our would-be rivals prior to the upcoming Southeast Asian Games," Ruzian said.
He believes that in the Dec. 9-17 Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which will feature 11 cycling events, Indonesia will excel in the men's 200m, 1,000m, 100km, sprints, the women's 3,000m, 25km and the 4,000m team pursuit, at which Indonesian cyclists have so far shown promising performances.
In the men's 1000m, for example, Herry Janto finished third in the Asian Cycling Championship in Ipoh, Malaysia, two years ago.
Indonesia will miss Kalimanto, the gold medalist in the men's 200m at the 1991 Manila SEA Games. He was not included in the present SEA Games-bound team because he has married and refused to join any long intensive training stint. (arf)